Where I’m from, boat shoes are all-weather, all-season staples. The preppy ideal lives on in the American South, and when you combine that with mild winters, I’ve known plenty of people, both men and women who never send their Sperrys to the back of their closets to rest. Some of those people may or may not be blood relatives of mine. At least one of them would enjoy the Christian Louboutin Steckel Calf Hair Boat Shoe. That person may or may not be my mother.

Boat shoes originated…well, I don’t know how they originated, but I do know that they’re theoretically supposed to be used during maritime activities. No one I know has ever used them for that, but, hey, not everyone has a boat. This particular pair of boat shoes, however, should definitely not be used near water – calf hair and moisture are not easy bedfellows, and in general, thousand dollar shoes and water don’t mix. Unless you’re on a very large boat, I suppose, because then you probably don’t have to interact with the water very much, and when you do, it’s of your own volition. I also suppose that people who spend this much money on boat shoes know where to find one of those. So, maybe not so much of a problem after all.